I heard a sermon recently on the following passage in Revelation.
Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. (Revelation 20:11-13 ESV)
Twice this passage mentions we will be judged after we die based upon what we “had done”. Nothing is said about our beliefs. Yet the sermon mentioned nothing about the importance of our actions in spite of the fact that that Jesus, when he was on earth, said the same.
In Matthew 16:27, Jesus says that when he comes back to earth, he will reward “each person according to what he has done”. Perhaps the best-known passage is Matthew 25:31-46 where Jesus talks about the nations gathered before him for judgment. And how will we be judged? It is whether we gave the hungry food to eat, the thirsty something to drink, those needing a place to stay a room in our houses, clothing to those who needed it, and visited the sick and incarcerated. In giving these examples, Jesus is very specific about what God requires of us and what determines whether we spend eternity with him or receive eternal punishment.
So why do we not teach and preach as Jesus did?
